


Hunted

by Lady_Anon_x



Series: High I.Q Yet Totally Stupid [4]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Caring Spencer Reid, Dorks in Love, Episode: s02e21 Open Season, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Kidnapping, Protective Spencer Reid, The BAU Team as Family (Criminal Minds)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29210037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Anon_x/pseuds/Lady_Anon_x
Summary: When people are being abducted and hunted the team must race to catch the killer.What will happen when one of their own is taken?
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Series: High I.Q Yet Totally Stupid [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139099
Kudos: 9





	Hunted

Spencer is 25  
Hallie is 25

* * *

It was a team night out. Morgan and Spencer were standing at a table close to the bar. Morgan was trying to give Spencer some tips for flirting and from the looks on Spencer’s face it was not going well.  
J.J was throwing darts, with a couple of guys in the corner and kicking their asses.  
Emily, Hotch, Garcia and Hallie were sitting in a large booth they managed to get earlier.

“So really, what is it with the flannel?” Emily asks Hallie. “You never go anywhere without one.”

Hallie took the last drink of her beer before shrugging, “They’re cosy and they go with pretty much anything and I love the variety of colours.” She gestured to herself, in her oversized navy and tan flannel coat, a black top tucked into a chequered skirt and her knee-high black boots. “Leaves _everything_ to the imagination.” Hallie giggles as she stands and opens her jacket, “All the guys wanna see in here.” She swivels her hips as she talks making the girls burst with laughter and Hotch put his forehead into his hands.

Spencer's attention was taken away from Morgan as he watched Hallie practically skip past them, her long hair moving with a life of its own, it is so long, all he wants to do is play with it, plait it, twist it, run his fingers through it, anything.

His line of sight is broken by a hand waving in his face, “Hey. Pretty boy.” Spencer turns back to him, “Look over at the bar, see that woman? Dark hair? Red dress? I want you to go over there and do what we talked about.”

Spencer frowned, “You actually want me to do magic? To try and pick-up a girl?” he really didn’t think Morgan was serious when he had suggested it and Morgan actually agreed.

Morgan shrugged, “Yes. I believe in you, go get her tiger.” He pats Spencer on the shoulder and pushes him towards the bar. Morgan grabs his drink and walks back over to the booth and explains to the others what is going on.

Garcia shrieked, “Awww, my little genius is growing up and chasing girls.”

“You think this is gonna work?” Emily asks him.

Morgan nods his head, he had total faith in him. “Absolutely, you’ve got to take control of the conversation, with something he is well versed in. So, it was either magic or statistics.” The whole table snorted.

Spencer was just standing there; he hadn’t moved since Morgan pushed him. Having an inner debate with himself. This is the most ridiculous thing he's done. There was no way a pretty girl was going to be interested in him, stuff like that didn’t happen. He shook his head, just do what Morgan said, be confident, girls love magic… apparently. He can do this. Spencer nodded to himself and gulped the last of his brandy before walking towards the bar.

“Oh, oh! Here we go!” Garcia slapped everybody on the arm, and they all turned to the bar.

They watched as Spencer walked up to the girl and then right past her, choosing instead to go a bit further up the bar.

“What’s he doing? He just walked right past her?” Morgan stressed before dropping his head onto the table with a groan.

Emily shrugged, “Maybe he got nervous. You know it happens sometimes?” she nudged Morgan with a smile on her face.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Hotch smiled as he pointed to where Spencer was now.

Morgan lifted his head off the table and followed Hotch’s finger.

“No way.” His jaw dropped.

Emily’s eyes widened, “Oh my God, he’s going for it. He's actually going for it.”

Spencer walked right past the girl and down the bar until he was standing next to Hallie. He was on her left side, so when she turned her back was to the team, giving them a perfect view of Spencer's face.

She gave him one of her brilliant smiles, “Hey, Spencer. How’s your night going.”

Spencer nodded and chuckled as he ordered another brandy. “Heh, it’s definitely going.”

“Where did Morgan go? I thought he was giving you flirting tips.” Hallie laughed as she poked his stomach.

Spencer rubbed his thumbs against his fingers, “Uh, yea he did. I wanted to try something.”

Hallie took a sip of her beer, “You wanna test your skills on me first?”

Spencer laughed nervously, “Uh, yes please.”

Hallie grins, “Hit me, Dr Reid.”

Spencer punched her lightly on the arm before motioning for her to turn around. Hallie rolled her eyes, smiling before turning her back to Spencer and taking another sip of her drink.

Spencer comes up to the bar and smiles at Hallie who returns his smile and…

Nothing. All words got stuck in his throat.

They watched Spencer’s face contort in fear, he wasn’t speaking. “Oh God. He’s choking.” Morgan sighs.

Garcia sat praying, “He can do this. He'll do it in his own genius way, you’ll see.”

Spencer laughs nervously, “I uh, don’t think I can do this.”

Hallie smiled gently at him, “Well, how about we save the flirting to Morgan and just talk instead?”

Spencer gave a shy smile and nodded. “I like your hair like that.” He points to the space buns on the top of her head. Hallie unconsciously grabs a piece of hair in her hands, fiddling with it.

“Thank you, I like yours too.” She points to his long hair that was curling at his nape.

Spencer tucked a strand of his own hair out of the way, “How about we exchange numbers, and we can plait each other’s hair sometime?”

She gasped and hit Spencer playfully on the arm, “You tricked me.” Hallie laughed, it was a game all along, “Absolutely.”

Spencer grinned and turned to walk away, “Wait. Don’t you need to give me your number?”

Spencer turned and gave her a sly smile, pointing to her space buns, “Check your hair.”

The team watched Spencer walk towards them before turning and pointing to Hallie's hair. Watching as Hallie raised her hands to her hair and felt a pointy bit of card in her hair. She slid it out and read it, it was his F.B.I business card, turning it over she smiled at the number wrote on the back and a little heart underneath it.

“Yes! That’s my man!” Morgan praised.

Spencer came back to the table and everyone cheered him on. Slapping him on the back.

That was when J.J came over, phone in hand and a serious look on her face.

Uh oh.

* * *

They were all sitting around the round table, everyone throwing coffee into them to try and battle the alcohol away. Gideon had arrived a few minutes after they did, having not been with them at the bar.

“A year ago, victims and their vehicles disappeared from Washington state and found almost two hundred miles away in a remote location in Idaho. Courtney Jacobs, 24, and Shane Everett, 25. Autopsy revealed similar entry and exit wounds through the chest.”

“Ballistics?”

J.J shook her head, “No bullets were found.”

“Looks like they were there a long time before they were killed.” Emily pointed out.

She nodded, “At least six or seven days.”

Morgan sighed, “Then what happened in that week?”

“I don’t wanna know.”

Spencer got up and walked over to the screens pointing at both victims, “Look at the way they’re dressed. Not dressed for hiking or camping.”

Hallie nodded, “So they didn’t go into the woods voluntarily like that.”

“Neither did this man.” J.J points the remote at the screen and pulls up another picture, of a man in the woods. “Found yesterday with similar wounds, still no I.D.”

Garcia stood up, slightly nauseous from looking at the photos, “I’m gonna look at missing person reports in Washington.”

“Look everywhere, we don’t know where this victim came from. We only know where he ended up.” Gideon told her.

Hallie twisted her pencil between her fingers, “Kills both males and females.” He had no preference so it wasn’t sexual, or gender based.

Hotch flicked through the manila folder, “Victims were found with their clothes on, no degradation. No experimentation, doesn’t look like he’s interested.” He states.

Emily frowned as she leaned back in her chair, “A serial killer with no sexual preference?”

Spencer nodded, “That’d be a first”

Hotch lifted up the photo of the most recent victim, “Broken nose and bark embedded in his face, looks like he ran into a tree.”

Morgan turned away from the map and looked at their leader, “How do you miss a huge tree?”

“Too busy looking behind you?” Hallie put forward.

Spencer poured over the photos, “None of these are defensive wounds. Courtney Jacob’s hands were torn up.”

Morgan lifted up a photo of a shoe, “Shane Everett only has one shoe on, it’s like he ran out of the other one. Sustaining a lot of injuries and yet he just kept going.”

Gideon unfolded his arms, “There’s only one thing you run that hard for – life.”

“I want everyone ready to get the jet, wheels up in twenty.” Everyone nodded stretching and slowly vacating the room. Hallie collected her folder and stretched, finishing her coffee and going to the kitchen to get another one.

Morgan waited until she left before walking over to Spencer, “Well?”

Spencer looked up from the folder confused, “Well?” he repeated back to Morgan.

“You and Hallie?” Emily asked hopefully.

Spencer sighed, “I don’t know. I did the trick, gave her my number.” He shrugged, “What else is there to do but wait?”

“You should talk to her about it.” Morgan suggested.

Spencer just hummed in response, “Maybe after the case. I’m not that desperate.” Then he got up and went to get his bag ready.

Morgan and Emily looked at each other before groaning. So close.

They found out around one hundred or so people go missing in Idaho’s wilderness. Millions of acres, one third of people are never found. The unsub must know these woods, they’re comfortable there.

Garcia had found that there were two different locations so the team split up. Hotch, Spencer and J.J went to Spokane to set up their geographical profile. Emily, Morgan, Hallie and Gideon went to the crime scene in Park Boise. She hadn’t been in the field much so they wanted her to get out as much as possible to get used to it.

Gideon had stayed in the town while the others went with the rangers up the mountain. Gideon found out from a local that the best weapons to use for taking out larger animals would be a compound bow.

“Whatever punctured the organs had to be long enough to penetrate the chest and mimic a twenty-two-calibre bullet, so, yeah, it’s possible.” Spencer told them.

The victims were being caught, taken to the woods, and hunted.

Hiking wasn’t really Hallie’s strong suit; she went for runs all the time but anything uphill? No way.

Gideon needed to come up to them to, so Hallie offered to go and get him from town.

“I’m not a great hiker anyway.” She laughed it off. “It won’t take me long, gives me an excuse to get out of the sun, gingers burn you know.” Emily and Morgan laughed and said to be back soon.

As she drove down the highway she got thinking, this case sounded so horrible. Innocent people being hunted like some kind of sport. It made her feel sick. Wanting to think of something happier she thought about when Spencer did that magic trick on her. She still had the card in her pocket. They didn’t get to talk much on the jet, then they were split up in two teams. She just hoped that they could talk about it when they got home.

She drove around the corner and frowned as there was a red mustang just sitting by the side of the road, the driver door was left open. Hallie frowned, pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head and took out her phone. No signal. Dammit. She pulled up in front of the car and got out. Closing the door quietly she took out her gun and walked slowly towards the car.

“Hello? Is someone there?”

There wasn’t anyone around that she could see.

“Hello?” she called out a little louder.

A loud bang came from inside the car which made her jump, she made her way around the car. The source of the bangs was coming from the trunk. She opened the trunk quickly and aimed her gun inside.

It was a woman, she was tied up, blood on her temple and tape around her mouth. She began screaming which was muffled by the tape and shaking her head.

A sharp pain shot through the back of Hallie's head and she was unconscious before she hit the ground.

Morgan’s phone buzzed in his pocket, looking at the caller I.D it was Gideon. “Hey, you almost here?”

 _“I haven’t been picked up yet.”_ Gideon was super pissed.

Morgan frowned, “What? Hallie left over an hour ago to come get you.” He spun around to Emily and hissed, “Call West.” Emily nodded and took out her phone.

Morgan heard fast rustling on the line and assumed Gideon was running somewhere, _“Was she alone?”_

Morgan rubbed his eyes and sighed, “Yes.”

Emily came jogging back over to him, “She’s not answering.”

_“I want everyone to check every inch of highway two. Leave nothing unturned.”_

* * *

Hallie groaned as she began to regain consciousness, she had a splitting headache to rival all hangovers. She couldn’t breathe through her mouth, taking big inhales through her nose she tried to regain her senses, her hands were tied behind her back. She had been driving to get Gideon when she came across an abandoned car, a woman was bound in the trunk… and that’s all she could remember.

“Wakey wakey.” A heavy boot kicked her spine, a chilling voice sending shivers over her body.

She slowly opened her eyes, it wasn’t as bright as she remembered, so it must have been a few hours since she found the car.

“I said. Wakey wakey.” A man spat at her and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her onto her feet. She tried to stand but stumbled slightly, breathing heavily through her nose as she stared at the man… men.

Two unsubs. They were both wearing camouflage. One with short hair was grinning manically at her while the younger looking, long haired, man was standing at the back. The short haired one must be the dominant one. They had familiar facial features, possible familial connection. An unbreakable bond.

“Look at what we have here.” The short haired man dangled her badge at her. “She’s with the F.B.I.” he threw the badge at the younger one, “See that brother. She’s here to stop us.” He laughed at her. “Oh. I’m sorry.” He stepped forward and took the tape off her mouth.

“Where’s the other one?” Hallie croaked out.

The short haired man pressed a finger to his ear, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you. What?”

“Where is the woman you kidnapped?” she asked firmly.

“Oh.” He walked over to the SUV. They had stolen it and drove it down here. Wherever here was…

He opened the back door and grabbed the other woman out. She struggled and tried to kick him, but he just laughed and threw her on the ground in front of Hallie.

“Now. Me and my brother are going to do a very nice thing.” The man smiled.

Hallie glared at them.

“We are going to give you two choices.” He took Hallie’s gun out of his pocket and aimed it at them, “I will shoot you both right now.”

“Or?” Hallie spat. She wasn’t going to waste precious time trying to play them. The way these men kill. They won’t show mercy.

He gestured at the trees in front of him, “Or, you run.” The younger one laughed.

Hallie looked around at her options, downhill will move faster but gives them a height advantage, uphill slows her down but breaks their line of sight. She’s just thankful she was wearing her boots.

The older one kept the gun aimed as he walked over and untied both of their hands.

The woman ripped the tape off her own mouth and yelled at them, “What the hell is wrong with you!?”

“I’m not talking to you.” The man cocked his head to the side and looked back at Hallie, “So what’s it going to be? We’ll even give you a head start.”

Hallie grabbed the woman’s arm, and they ran down into the trees. The two men laughing as they grabbed their bows.

* * *

“What do you mean she’s missing?” Hotch demanded.

Morgan sighed over the phone, “ _She went to pick up Gideon and never made it to the town._ ”

Spencer sat in the chair, his leg bouncing quickly, and he kept running his hands through his hair.

“We’re leaving now.” Hotch ordered and Reid collected his things quickly as him, Hotch and J.J ran to the SUV.

“It’s seven hours to Park Boise.” J.J told them as they buckled into the SUV and Hotch put the sirens on and sped down the road.

“What are you trying to say?” Spencer snapped at her.

J.J’s face took on a pained expression, “Spence-”

J.J’s phone rang and she quickly answered. “Emily?”

_“Gideon and other officers found a red mustang on highway two. Driver door and trunk were open. And um…”_

“What is it?” Hotch asked.

“ _Hallie’s sunglasses were found underneath the car. Traces of blood at the scene._ ”

Spencer hit the window with his fist in frustration before putting his head in his hands. Hallie was in danger and there was nothing he could do. He should be out there.

“We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

* * *

Hallie just kept running, the woman was stumbling beside her as they ran through the trees.

“I can’t- I can’t.” the woman fell onto her knees.

Hallie turned back and grabbed the woman’s hands, she looked a few years older than her, but not by many. “What’s your name?”

“Bobbi.” She replied breathless.

“Bobbi, I’m Hallie, I’m with the F.B.I and I’m going to get you out of here, but we have to keep moving. It’s going to be too dark to move soon and we need to be as far away from them as possible. We need to move right now.” The woman nodded. Hallie smiled and pulled the woman back onto her feet.

The two men chuckled quietly before silently following behind them.

* * *

It was past midnight before J.J, Spencer and Hotch arrived at the ranger’s cabin.

They rushed inside and found Emily, Morgan and Gideon.

“What do we know?”

Emily spoke first, “At noon Hallie left the park onto highway two to get Gideon from the town. She didn’t make it there. Gideon found the car of Bobbi Baird, driver door open, trunk open.” She cleared her throat, “Hallie’s sunglasses were under the car and there were spots of blood on the ground. We put a BOLO out on the SUV but no luck yet.”

“We need to be careful. They’ll be on high alert now they know the F.B.I is involved.” Hotch told the rangers.

“What does that mean?” one of them asked.

“They might speed up their hunting process.” Gideon explained.

“So, your girl could already be dead.”

Spencer turned slowly from looking at the map on the wall to the ranger who just spoke. “What did you just say?” he was deathly calm.

“The girl might’ve spooked ‘em. We have to consider that they’ve killed her already to try stop the F.B.I from finding them.” he said with a shrug.

Spencer moved too fast for anyone to react, shoving the ranger up against the wall. “You don’t talk about her like that!” he hissed, “She’s not just _some_ girl.”

He felt a set of arms trying to pull him back, “Reid! Reid! Stand down, man!” Another set joined in and he was pulled off the ranger. “Spencer! Spencer, stop it!”

Hotch had his left arm in a vice grip and Morgan had his right. He felt tears prickling at his eyes, “She’s not dead.” He whimpered as the two agents led him outside. “She’s not dead.” Morgan took him into an embrace as Hotch went back inside.

“She’s not dead. She’s stronger than that.” Morgan told him.

Spencer sniffled as he wiped his eyes, “What if he’s right?”

Morgan put his hands on the kids shoulders, “We don’t think like that. She’s alive until we have proof of otherwise. Understand me?”

Spencer nodded and gave a weak yes in response before he looked out to the trees.

“She’s out there somewhere and when the sun rises, we will be the first out there to get her.” Morgan told him. “And you two still need to talk about that night in the bar, she wouldn’t miss that.” Morgan nudged him.

Spencer smiled weakly before taking a deep breath, “Hotch is gonna kill me.” He mutters.

“I think Hotch is gonna kill the ranger. We all get emotional sometimes. Come on.” He slapped Spencer on the shoulder and the two made their way back inside.

* * *

Hallie’s head snaps up, she had fallen asleep, her back was pressed against a tree, her knees to her chest. She slowly looked around and saw Bobbi beside her. No sign of the unsubs. Her stomach rumbled and her throat was dry. Not good. They had to get out of here soon or risk dying of dehydration.

“Bobbi.” She whispered, “Bobbi wake up!”

The blonde woman moaned and her eyes snapped open too.

“I was hoping that it was a nightmare.” She muttered.

Hallie stood up and held her hand out for Bobbi. “Come on, we need to get going.”

“Where? We’re lost.” Bobbi argued.

She was right, Hallie had no idea where they were or how deep they were. She walked forward and pointed to the sun, “Well, the sun rose from that way, so that’s east. I remember on a map that the forest runs into the highway somewhere along here, as long as we keep heading east.”

She heard a quiet thump behind her and turned, Bobbi was lying on her back, an arrow through her stomach. Hallie immediately dropped to the ground and crawled over to her. “Oh my God. Bobbi? Bobbi can you hear me?” she pressed her hands around the arrow trying to stop the blood that was running out of her stomach. “You’re gonna be okay.” Bobbi shook her head, tears coming out the side of her eyes.

“R-run.” Bobbi whimpered.

Hallie shook her head and her repositioned her hands that had slipped from all the blood, “I’m not leaving you. I promised you we would get out of here.”

Bobbi shook her head again, “Go. Run.” She breathed out.

“I’m not going to leave you, okay? My team is going to be here soon and help us.” She grabbed onto Bobbi’s hand and squeezed tight, “I’m right here.”

“’m scared.” She mumbled, then nothing. She wasn’t breathing.

Hallie felt the tears fall down her cheeks, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She heard a twig snap and that snapped her back to her senses. Needing a weapon she looked down and got an idea, “God, I am so sorry.” she pulled the arrow out of Bobbi’s stomach, gripping it tight in her blood-soaked hand and she ran. If she made it close enough, she should be near a ranger’s camp. She must be. So, she kept running.

An arrow shot into the tree trunk right in front of her, “Holy shit.” she just kept running. She was getting weaker. She couldn’t run forever. She stopped to catch her breath and looked up at the large tree in front of her. She put the arrow between her teeth and began climbing the branches until she was midway up the tree.

She stopped climbing and caught her breath for a moment, heart pounding. She just wanted to be home, or at Quantico, with Spencer, all the team, hot coffee. What if she died here? What if they caught her? What if the team didn't get here on time? Never be taught anything again by Gideon or Hotch, never hear Garcia's chirpy voice or talk tech together, never borrowing that top off of Emily that she thought was cute, never have Morgan pretending to flirt with her because he wants to annoy Spencer. Spencer.

She took the card out of her pocket and looked over it.

_Call me sometime?_

Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the card. What if she never gets to call him? Never got to act out on any of the daydreams that she had about her and Dr Spencer Reid IQ of 187. She looked to the sky and took a deep breath. Self-pity time is over. She kissed the card and put it back into her pocket. She’ll make it. There’s no option for failure.

The younger unsub ran into her line of sight, she pressed herself against the trunk as best she could to hide. This was her chance. When he was stood right underneath her, she gripped the arrow tight and leapt out of the tree. She fell right on top of the unsub and she stabbed the arrow into his throat. A spray of blood went over her face as she dug the arrow in as hard as she could. The unsub tried to get up, blood was gushing out of his neck but soon he was still. She fell back and looked at what she had done, he was looking right at her, unblinking, unmoving, just staring. The eyes of a killer.  
She heard the leaves rustle behind her, and she quickly grabbed the bloodied arrow, that already claimed two lives, and ran behind a tree.

* * *

“Over here!” Morgan shouted.

He walked closer and found the body of Bobbi Baird. Spencer and Hotch ran up to him and he checked her pulse before shaking his head.

Spencer was just stood still, staring at the body. The chances of finding Hallie alive, if finding her at all were slimming drastically every minute.

Hotch grabbed his arm, “It’s not her. We keep looking.”

Spencer barely heard him. He could only think about Hallie. If only there was a sign. He looked down to the ground, he frowned and took off his sunglasses.

A sign.

“It’s a trail of blood.” Spencer pointed out.

“She could be hurt. Move it!”

Gunshots. Three gunshots filled the air.

The three stopped.

No.

“It’s coming from ahead.”

No.

Spencer sprinted through the trees towards the sound.

Hallie had been hiding behind a tree when the other unsub came from the bushes. Rushing over to the body of his now dead brother. “No, no Johnny. Johnny, wake up.” He cried as he picked his body off the ground and held it close.

This was it.

Holding the arrow tight again she slowly sneaked out from behind the tree and towards the unsub.

He knew she was there. Standing up quickly he swung his bow, hitting her on the face and splitting her cheek.

“I’m going to make you pay, you little bitch.”

Hallie quickly stood up, touching her cheek that was now wet with blood.

“Come and get me, asshole.”

The man roared ran at her, she dodged his first few punches but then he punched her in the face, she fell back, blood spurting from her nose, definitely broken. The unsub then began kicking her in the stomach and ribs.

She cried out as she felt her ribs cracking, it was getting harder to breathe. Not giving up yet Hallie gripped the arrow tight and stabbed it into the mans leg, she ripped it out and stabbed him in the same leg. When he dropped to one knee, she used all the energy in her body and kicked him in the face and he fell back. She moved over him and stabbed him, over and over and over and over in the chest.

She looked at his hip and saw her gun holstered there. She grabbed it and fired it into the air. Hoping someone was nearby to hear her.

Spencer arrived first, then Hotch and then Morgan.

There was the younger unsub lying on his stomach, blood dried around his neck and pooled underneath him. Further ahead was Hallie. She was completely blood soaked. It was on her hands, arms, legs, hair, face. She was kneeling over the second unsub gun trained on him and arrow still gripped tightly in her hand.

Spencer and Hotch ran over to her while Morgan checked the bodies.

“Hallie.” Hotch talked gently, “Hallie put the gun down. It’s over now.”

Hallie shook her head whimpering.

A gently hand wrapped around hers, “Hallie. It’s Spencer.” He licked his lips and moved slowly, “You need to put the gun down.”

“He’s going to kill me.” Hallie shook.

Spencer slowly moved into her line of sight, breaking her sight of the body, “No one is going to hurt you. You got them.”

Hallie’s grip softened on the gun and Spencer gently took it and handed it to Hotch. He looked down to her left hand, “I need that arrow too.”

Hallie slowly looked down to it, she clung to it for so long she forgot it was there, “They killed Bobbi with it.” She looked at the arrow, horrified and threw it away, trying to wipe the blood off her hands, it wouldn’t come off. It won’t come off!

Spencer saw her panic and quickly gathered her into his arms. “You’re safe now. You’re safe.” He kissed her gently on her forehead, “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He told her gently, slowly her arms wrapped around his small frame.

She knew that there would come a time when she needs to shoot someone. It was part of the job. But she didn’t know that the first time would be so… brutal.

Spencer stood up slowly, helping Hallie up as he did so. He had an arm around her shoulders and one on her hand as he gently coaxed her forward. Morgan and Hotch watched as she was led away. They passed Emily who stopped and stared at them, there were no words for what just happened. When she took a step forward to help Spencer just shook his head and she understood.

Slowly she came back to her senses. She was sitting on the step of the ambulance, bloodied flannel jacket gone and replaced with Spencer’s F.B.I windbreaker with a blanket over the top for shock.  
She frowned as she looked around, it was still daytime. She looked at her hands that were still covered in dried blood. She brutally killed two people. Stabbed him over and over. She leaned to the side and vomited, well, she hadn’t eaten or drank anything in two days so there was nothing to come up.  
A gentle hand was rubbing her back. There was talk of going to the hospital. She couldn’t go to the hospital right now, she had to talk to Hotch, she had to talk to Spencer. She had to tell them what happened. Hallie shrugged off the blanket and tried to stand, Spencer came into her line of sight, he was saying something. She concentrated on his lips, she couldn’t hear, she was underwater. Everything was happening too fast and too slow at the same time.

Spencer tried to get Hallie to sit down again, “Hallie, you need to sit down.” He watched as she frowned, her eyes focused on his lips. “Hallie? Can you hear me?” her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell forward, Spencer caught her quickly and picked her up bridal style to put her back in the ambulance.

_“You promised me. You said you would get me out of here. You lied to me.”_

She watched as the arrow pierced through Bobbi’s stomach. She fell to the ground, trying to stop the bleeding, she had to stop the bleeding.  
There was pressure on her stomach, she looked up to see Spencer was above her, he was crying. “You’re going to be fine. I’m not going to leave you.” She looked down and realised he was trying to stop her from bleeding. There was an arrow through her stomach. They put tape over her mouth, she couldn’t breathe. She lifted her hand to get the tape off.

“Don’t do that.” Came a gentle voice. A warm hand took hers and guided it away from her face.

Slowly opening her eyes, she looked up, Spencer was standing over her. “Hey there.”

Hallie smiled back at him, “Hi.” He looked different, dishevelled. His hair was messy, dark circles under his red eyes.

“How come I’m the one in hospital and you look worse than I do.” She tried to speak but it just came out as a whisper.

Spencer took her hand and kissed the back of it, “Don’t be silly. You look beautiful.”

“What happened?”

Spencer swallowed and gently sat on the edge of the bed, “You tried to get up when we were at the ambulance. You were still in shock and you collapsed. Two broken ribs, three cracked, concussion, two head wounds, and severe dehydration.” He glanced at his watch, “You’ve been out of it for four days.”

Her eyes widened, _four_ days. “Really? Where are the others?” they should’ve been home by now.

Spencer smiled, “They’re all outside.” He gestured to the door and when Hallie looked, she saw Emily standing near the doorway speaking to the rest of the team.

“Thank you, Spencer.”

Spencer frowned, “For what?”

“Is my jacket there?”

Spencer nodded and handed over her flannel jacket, ignoring the dried blood she searched the pockets, smiling she took out a card and handed it to him. He was visibly shocked that she kept it with her.

“I thought I was going to die. But I looked at this card and it gave me hope.” She smiled.

Spencer looked at the card and then to her. He leaned forward on the bed and cupped Hallie’s face in his hands, making sure to be careful of the bandage on her cheek. “May I?”

Hallie raised her hand tucking a strand of Spencer’s hair behind his ear, nodding.

Spencer smiled and closed the distance gently caressing her face as he kissed her lips. His kisses were soft and gentle, like his hands. They kissed many times before breaking apart, smiling at each other. Spencer played with her hair as he studied her lips.

Banging on the window startled them and they turned around to see the whole team grinning at him and cheering.

Finally.


End file.
